Does AI play an important role in designing campaigns?

The Public Relations business is in line for a serious Artificial Intelligence (AI) upgrade. Leveraging AI into Public Relations is the next big thing on the block. The intersection of AI and PR has started to radically change the communications business, globally.

With AI, machine learning and big data, the PR business is becoming more data-driven. It is using human intelligence to mine the data and come up with path-breaking PR campaigns.

Processing the data – right and fast – helps PR professionals respond to the market with improved insights and timely too.

Armed with an enhanced understanding of the digital DNA, PR professionals can carve relevant messages for the consumers in real-time. When you see Facebook feeds and news recommendations that look just apt for your read, you know you are seeing ‘AI in action’ already.

From predicting when customer interest will be highest to identifying potential crises and mitigating them before they explode, going forward, every PR firm – big or small – would need a data scientist(s) with excellent predictive analytics capabilities. However, the question is, can all PR firms afford such an investment into AI and big data, let alone mine it?

The answer lies in reconfiguring your investments basis the market prioritisation, such as, AI. While PR firms are slowly sinking in with positive implication of deploying AI into weaving a campaign narrative, the awareness of using it intelligently by pairing human intuition with machine learning has begun.

Plus, AI will automate the information gathering mediums for PR firms, such as media monitoring, basic research and other mundane chores.

Using real-time data, text mining, and advanced attribution, bringing content that is in resonance with what the audience needs will help PR professionals to design PR campaigns that are no-nonsense and un-fluffy. Keeping the readership attributes of the audience in mind, PR/strategic communications consultancies can create tailored integrated campaigns leveraging [and melding] the traditional and digital PR space through the pairing of big data and AI.

Further, Chatbots enhanced with AI will also be used for quick and effective communication as it lends bots the ability to understand a question regardless of how it’s asked and pull results from multiple sources at lightning-fast speeds.

AI can further provide amazing, data-rich research on a myriad of topics that can help PR professionals to experiment with new stories that match big data analysis and messages to the audience.

PR and marketing professionals are constantly on the hunt for ways to make faster and more informed decisions that drive results and reach goals. AI can power the decision-making ability of PR practitioners in an unbiased manner to provide an in-depth and comprehensive look at how to solve business problems.

AI will set out more granular goals for PR professionals when creating contextualised, story-like campaign for smaller, more niche audiences, rapidly expanding industries and higher communication expectations. This growing complexity to understand the customer data and then apply it to suit the campaign that is fleshed out by using this data is critical. That way, AI can serve as an important component to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’; in other words, the relevant information from a pool of irrelevant/non-applicable data.

And so, at the helm of great PR is the ability of savvy PR professionals to focus more on developing and implementing creative strategies and programs to create awareness, protect and improve reputation, and produce revenues.

Let’s not forget, AI is an enabler to improve our human intelligence; let automation do its job for the tactical PR chores, and leave the job of coming up with bold, out-of-the-box, creative strategies and campaigns to us.

Udit Pathak is the brain behind Media Mantra, a fast growing, independent Image Management and Communications Consultancy. He co-founded Media Mantra in 2012 and started operations with a two-member team.

Udit has an experience of over 12 years in Public Relations. He started his professional journey with media channels such as Headlines Today and Aajtak.

In the coming years he aims to position Media Mantra as one of India’s biggest and finest Communication Consultancies.